2 Weeks to go

Since I decided I was definitely going to do the Raleigh 70.3, I have crammed in some important training this week. Oh what, you aren't supposed to cram for a half Ironman?

Thursday morning group interval run, Thursday night group ride (ouch), Friday swim where I didn't even cut any of the workout (go me), Saturday long run, Sunday long brick.

Marty went down and did the FS50 in Washington, NC. This is a neat distance (1mile swim, 44mile bike, 5mile run = 50 miles. Get it?) and although I've never been there, everyone says it's a great venue.  He didn't get back until 2pm which meant I didn't get to start my long run until 3pm. My original plan was to start at Umstead and run the Turkey Creek loop and then add some on to get to 12miles.

Within 1mile, I had several horseflies swarming me. Oh yes, they are out. Typically, if you run in the morning you're okay, but if you wait until the afternoon heats up, you're a goner. There is really nothing more annoying than having horseflies dive bomb you during the entirety of your run. I really can't handle it - this run from 4 years ago is still very fresh in my mind!

Luckily, I could get out of their fairly quick and get onto the greenway that takes you to the NC Art Museum. No horseflies on the greenway, they tend to stay in the trees. It's kind of a boring run, but I don't ever run on that greenway and I was cruising along with my music so it was all good. I briefly thought of running more of the 70.3 course since the turnaround is at the Art Museum and I had around 3 more miles to kill, but instead decided to check out a couple of their trails. I had never run on them before and there are weird sculptures that kept it interesting.

Logan's one year pictures taken at one of the sculptures at the NC Art Museum in December

On the way back, I picked it up for about 3.5 miles and felt pretty good.  Then we stuffed ourselves at Ruckus Pizza with friends. I was a little worried for the quick turnaround that was going to happen since I was meeting the group at 9am for our last big brick, but that workout also turned out pretty good. We rode 50miles and ran 4. So I got several good workouts in and now I'm ready to taper, ha :)

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I'm in for the 70.3

That might look like a funny title - didn't I sign up for the Raleigh 70.3 last fall? Well, yes, yes I did. But if you had asked me 2 months ago if I was going to do it, I would've probably said, "I don't think so." 

It all came down to balance. I'm working almost full time again, coaching athletes, being a mom, and trying to keep some organization to the house and things were just too much. For me, anyways, I know plenty of people out there have more on their plate and get more done than I do. Anyways, when it came down to decision time, would I rather be on my bike for 3+hrs or take Logan to a trampoline place? Would I rather get a run in or head to Logan's daycare for a Mother's Day Tea Party? I always chose Logan. I don't want to miss anything! So training went on the back burner and I did what I wanted when I wanted. This typically meant no long rides and I swam if I felt like it. I also didn't do any long runs over 10 miles (10 miles just seems the perfect long run distance to me). And I was 90% sure I wasn't going to do Raleigh because I obviously wasn't trained enough to be competitive.

Last week I sort of started feeling like maybe I could still do it. And then when I ran with some friends on Sunday (on the course, for almost 11 miles and it felt pretty easy), they convinced me. My plan is to not go too hard. Seriously. I'm not joking when I say I'm not well trained for this event - I can definitely do the distance, but I most definitely can't do the distance fast. So I will cruise the bike and run. The swim is whatever anyways. I'm taking a page from my friend Tori's playbook and the goal of the day will be to "Finish Happy"

We know so many people doing this race, and it's right in our backyard. I'm checking my ego at the door and will be enjoying the day, hopefully with a smile on my face for most of it.

And it's not like I'm not training at all. I'm still averaging 8-10 hours a week, and this is doable for me and it's what I like. That was the other thing - I don't actually like training for the long stuff. I'm much happier training short and hard and doing sprint tri's. All out and you're done in a little over an hour. Perfect.

So hopefully I get through the 70.3 unscathed and get back to racing sprints. Or maybe I'll just run. I love running and there is always this desire to just focus on running for awhile and see if I can lower my adult PR's on the roads. Who knows. At this rate I'll change my mind again in a few weeks.

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Open Water Swim and Stuff

We co-hosted the Jordan Lake Open Water Challenge this past Saturday with FS Series. This was the first race in our open water swim series that we've been putting on for several years now.  We switched the venue this year and moved the date earlier so everyone could get a run through of the Raleigh 70.3 swim course. This is the same place we do our Big Deuce and Little Uno swims in July. Because of the popularity of the 70.3, we had over 250 swimmers signed up for 1.2 mile, and around 65 for the 2.4 mile.

This was definitely our biggest turnout (thanks, M-Dot!), and because of it, it took a bit more coordination and work.  I'm usually the sort-of in charge person at check-in and I can't thank our volunteers enough (our athletes - OSB rocks)  for their hard work. I was a bit more organized this time around and sent out an email detailing what each person would do and we luckily had enough people that I could roam around and help out where needed. Mostly this was answering questions and trouble-shooting. I also took over when people needed bathroom breaks and when everyone left since they were all swimming. I couldn't because there was just too much to do (schlep all the food out and get it ready for the swimmers afterwards, for example).

I'd say it all went fairly smooth, but I honestly often walk away from these wondering why we put them on since from my perspective it seems no one is happy. I realize I am typically dealing with people who are disgruntled or don't like something (that I have no control over) and I'm having to explain to them the 'why.' I also realize that we attract mostly triathletes who tend to be type-A, not-quite-ever-satisfied people, but even so it can be tough to be in this position all the time. I guess I'm throwing a bit of a pity-party over here. I do hope most people enjoy themselves out there, although I doubt they realize how much work goes into putting one on.

Doug waited around until the bitter end for me so I would have someone to ride with. Although I doubt HE realized how tired/slow I was going to be. Uggghh, that was definitely not a confidence builder. By the time I got home I was so exhausted. Marty had already gone home to relieve our awesome babysitter who came over at 5:30am, and I powered through and we all had a nice dinner with friends that night.

This morning a big group of us ran most of the 70.3 run course in downtown Raleigh. It's not flat, but I also don't think it's the hardest course out there. The greenway has some nice hills on it and running down Hillsborough in the heat will be tough, but I think it will be pretty fun since it's out and back and you'll be able to see so many people. We're all just wondering how hot the day will be after having such a cold winter and mild spring.

And now, Logan. He is so much fun - repeating new words each day, doing new things each day, it's so great.

He'll say "cheese!" now when you take a picture

Sitting with dada at a Mexican Restaurant on Mother's Day

Walking to dinner

Big boy sitting in a booster seat AND drinking from a cup, with Uncle Doug looking on

Some video of Logan saying a lot of "No" (one of his favorites right now), and some other words at the end.






And this one is of another one of his favorite words, "thank you"  I never get tired of hearing him say this when you give him something.

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I Thought It Would Be Warmer

Several months ago, Marty and I signed up for an organized group ride near us called the Raven Rock Ramble. We originally signed up for the 86 mile version. Obviously, I was under duress when this was decided since I've never ridden that far. Luckily, you can opt out and do whatever course you want the day of, so we did the 100K route instead. Which is actually 64 miles, not 100K, so why it's advertised as 100K is a mystery. They have 2 columns on their website: Route and Actual Distance, where they distinguish between what is advertised and what it really is. Okay.

We don't do a whole lot of these supported rides, but they are fun, particularly if you have a few people to do it with so you can have your own built in group within the great big group. I do love how these rides attract everyone from hardcore roadies to people on recumbents. And the stops usually have very yummy treats - like delicious brownies. I had two of those at one stop.

The weather sucked, though. We live in the south and it's supposed to be hot by now, not gloomy, super windy, and 56 degrees. This particular ride is really quite hilly (friend's garmin had 3300 feet of elevation gain) so we didn't really need the wind to make it any harder. But there you go and we survived. Not without a lot of grumbling among our group of 4 that rotated through most of the route. It was good natured grumbling, like 'omg this sucks hahaha what are we doing I want to be done we are so tough Marty quit your belly aching and get up here and pull us' type of stuff. Having friends with you to endure a workout like this really helps.

The last 15 or so miles were a tough grind, into the wind with lots of uphill/false flats. The 4 of us continued to rotate while a train drafted off of our group behind. We didn't care about that. But then we all cared a tiny bit when 3 of the guys who sucked our wheels for miles and miles surged in a clear manner to totally drop us all the last 2 miles, like it was the end of some stage race or something.

But despite all of this, it was a great ride and really fun and challenging. I'm glad we did it, and I'm REAL glad we did the 100k, err 64 mile version.

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Long weekend at the beach

Marty did the TOA Sprint Triathlon on Saturday, and since it had a very manageable start time of 10:00 am, Logan and I both went out to watch. They were running the Beaverdam Olympic distance race a half hour earlier and we knew a ton of people racing between the two events. Logan did great and listened pretty well when he was out of the stroller. We were in a relatively small area with different legs of the race pretty much surrounding us, but he was entertained by other kids, his ball, and generally running in circles. He did try and run after 'dada' both times he saw him. Marty did well, finishing 4th overall.

Later that afternoon we drove over to Wrightsville Beach for a long weekend/mini vacation with Marty's sister and her family.  Her husband has a bunch of relatives in that area of NC and one of the many nieces had Confirmation so they were all up there for that. We were looking forward to spending time with them and Logan's cousins, who he absolutely loves playing with.

Tim rented a sweet place that was almost directly on the beach, and they gave us the upstairs with this great view.

The problem was we had to dress like this to go to the beach:

It was so freaking cold! Some stupid front came through last Friday evening and made our temperatures dip back down to below normal. And out on the beach it was crazy windy. All day Sunday it was 25mph+. We didn't even get to go to the beach really because the weather was so crappy.

But we made do. Logan still had a great time with Cate and Jamie. And we had fun catching up with Anna, Tim and Donna (Marty and Anna's mom).

We went to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher on Monday. Obviously, it's no Sea World, but for $8 I think they do a pretty good job and the kids had a great time.

Checking out the fishies

Logan and cousin Jamie

With Aunt Anna in a megalodon jaw

Snack break

We bought a goofy picture of the family - I took a picture of the picture with my phone, the original is great.

After watching Cate on the swing, Logan decided he's no longer scared of it

Stuffing his face with lasagna in his sophisticated bib

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5K Battle to the line

An epic battle took place at the Cary Road Race this past Saturday.

Held at the Koko Booth Amphitheatre, covered in a yellow dusting of pollen, it was a beautiful North Carolina morning.

This is what the typical car looks like in the Greater Raleigh area. Achoo.

The morning started with Logan beating Marty (again!) in the 10K.


Pick it up, Dad


Then it was my turn. Of course, being the wimp that I am, I chose to do the 5K. Scratch that. I got an email from Marty earlier in the week telling me he had signed me up for a 5K that weekend. Kudos to him for not even asking if I wanted to do the 10K.

As is typical at a local road race, the kids were out in full force. They all lined up in front, despite the announcer's pleas to move back, but it was no matter to me. I knew they would go out faster then I could. The trick was dodging the carnage after 400 yards.  I did pretty well, only running into one before I set my sights on the rest of the pack.

Flat-footed pictures while running are terrible, but this is in here because for some reason, my arm looks jacked

The last little kid was caught around mile 1. I figured I would drop him fairly quickly, thinking he had gone out too fast. 

Me: Cute kid. 
Cute kid: Imma beat you lady!


He had the last laugh, as he came barreling down the hill to repass me.

I'm just glad I finally got ahead of the dude in all black with a backpack from the 'my arm is jacked picture'

I re-repassed my adversary at the 2 mile mark and continued to hold onto the pace around the lake. Cute Kid could not be shaken. This was not good. I did not want to get into a sprint finish with Cute Kid. Not only would that probably not end well for me, I also didn't want to be the douche trying to outsprint a 10 year old.

I heard him breathing close, but he never made up the ground and in the end - winner goes to the lady! Maybe next time, Cute Kid. Maybe next time.


Breaking the giant tape across the finish line

Logan gave me the thumbs up for a race well run.


My time was not very good, but, I didn't have Mary to chase this weekend.

Later, Marty and I took a nap while Logan went grocery shopping.

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We got rid of cable

Last week we said good-bye to our souped up cable with HD and HBO and Showtime and downgraded to just the 20 regular channels you can get with a digital converter.  This saves a bunch of money each month with just basic cable and internet service. I truthfully don't watch a whole lot of tv, but there are definitely things I miss:

• HGTV - I love that channel even though I am not into remodeling or anything. But I will give my opinion on your redecorating, or house you want to buy, or how jealous I am of the dude from house crashers showing up at your Lowes. They have so many mindless shows on there that are great when you're folding laundry on the couch
• DVR - this is actually a big one.  DVRing changes your life, and then you don't have to watch commercials which is so super annoying.
• Game of Thrones and other awesome shows on the real cable channels.  We'll just have to be a season behind (this honestly isn't that big of a deal to me).

I convinced Marty to buy himself a Kindle Fire HD since I totally appropriated the Kindle Fire his athletes bought him for his 40th birthday. He himmed and hawed for just a little bit, but he actually listened to me and has admitted to being very happy about buying it. With the Kindle Fire HD, you can hook it up to the TV and the picture is awesome. We already have an Amazon Prime membership so we can get tons of shows and movies for free. We could also, of course, buy more current shows if we wanted for $1.99 (we haven't done that yet, because there's so much free stuff).

We also haven't watched any network shows online yet through our tv because something about downloading Flash or whatever, but that's another option to get the current shows.

So there really are lots of ways to watch tv cheaply. I suppose if you watch a lot of tv, this wouldn't be that enticing, but with how much Time Warner charges this was a good decision.  Maybe down the road we'll get more channels, but right now I don't even notice that it's gone. 

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